Grenada gained independence on 7 February 1974, and the charismatic, autocratic, Sir Eric Gairy became Prime Minister. A coalition of several opposition Socialist groups formed the New Jewel Movement (NJM) with Maurice Bishop, popular with the people, and Bernard Coard, adept at operating behind the scenes, as its leaders. The New Jewel Movement, however, could do little to remove the highly popular, though erratic, Gairy
until 14 March 1979. On that day, while Gairy attempted to persuade the U.N. Secretary General to establish a commission on unidentified flying objects, the NJM staged a bloodless coup and made Bishop Prime Minister; with Coard his deputy. Although the NJM started a program to rebuild Grenada's economy, its leaders concentrated on the perceived threat of invasion by pro-Gairy supporters in the United States. This, coupled with their predilection for Marxist Leninist theory, made Grenada a Soviet backed country. Although united on the invasion threat, the Bishop and Coard factions drifted apart over Marxist Leninist philosophy. The Coard group perceived Bishop as a power hungry hindrance to the NJM's ultimate goal of transforming Grenada into a miniature Cuba. Furthermore, they believed that he was not sufficiently aggressive and determined in supporting the NJM and their revolution. On 13 October 1983, the Coard faction placed Bishop under house arrest. Six days later, Bishop's supporters marched to his house, pushed past the guards, freed Bishop, and carried him to Fort Rupert, headquarters of the People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (PRAF). Once there, they dispersed the garrison. Three Soviet made BTR-60 armored personnel carriers manned by soldiers of the PRAF left Fort Frederick and headed for Fort Rupert, where the soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators, seized Bishop and his principal supporters inside the fort, and executed them. Defense and Interior Minister General Hudson Austin announced assumption of power by a military council, including himself and other PRAF officers, with a shoot-on-sight curfew in effect. Meantime Coard disappeared.

President Reagan's concern over the growing Soviet influence
in Grenada, principally military assistance, grew even more serious as Cuban
construction workers with militia training began building Point Salines Airport,
potentially an excellent jump-off point for Soviet supported revolutionaries in
the Caribbean. The political situation worsened on the island, as Soviet and
Cuban military assistance greatly exceeded the needs of the Grenadian military
forces. Democratic members of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS),
of which Grenada was a member, also grew more apprehensive over events in
Grenada. The house arrest and execution of Bishop forced both President Reagan
and the OECS to reexamine their op-

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tions. The OECS, believing that the successful leftist
military coup in Grenada might encourage leftist revolutionaries in their own
countries to take similar antigovernment action, unanimously agreed to ask
President Reagan to intervene with military force in Grenada. Barbados and
Jamaica, non-OECS members, also asked for United States military action.
President Reagan, concerned lest another Teheran type of hostage situation occur
because of the presence of American medical students on the island, also viewed
the bloody coup and the possibility of leftist foment in the region of pro-U.S.
democratic states with alarm. Since a hostile environment in Grenada might
compel the United States to use considerable military force to safeguard and
evacuate its nationals, the President ordered the joint Chiefs of Staff to
determine American military options against Grenada.

The JCS directed Admiral Wesley L. McDonald,
Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic command, to develop options for evacuating American
nationals, primarily the medical students, from Grenada. Admiral McDonald's
staff decided on six options, one of which called for military intervention.
After receiving a request for intervention from the OECS and noticing with
apprehension the deteriorating and unstable situation in Grenada, on 22 October
President Reagan ordered the JCS to prepare for a military intervention.

As a precautionary move, in case American nationals should
have to be evacuated with military assistance, the JCS had already diverted the
U.S.S. Independence carrier battle group and the 22d Marine Amphibious
Unit (MAU) from their course toward Lebanon to a position within 500 miles of
Grenada. Now detailed planning for the execution of McDonald's sixth option took
place. Based upon intelligence reports stating that the trained PRAF and Cuban
military forces on the island outnumbered the ground combat forces available in
the 22d MAU, the Atlantic Command expanded the contingency plan to include a
substantial Army presence. Planners selected the 75th Infantry (Ranger) and 82d
Airborne Division because their training, organization, and mission suited
perfectly this type of operation. The 75th Infantry would engage the enemy, with
the 82d Airborne arriving later as a peacekeeping force. Admiral McDonald
selected Vice Admiral Joseph Metcalf III to command the operational force,
Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) 120 (see Chart 5), during the operation
code-named URGENT FURY After hurried planning sessions, the joint planning group
divided Grenada into two areas of responsibility and assigned the more lightly
defended northern two-thirds of the island to the 22d MAU. The Army and Air
Force units received responsibility to subjugate the more heavily defended
southern one-third of the island, which included the Salines Airport and St.
George's. This area also had the heaviest concentration of trained PRAA
soldiers, Cubans, armored personnel carriers, and antiaircraft guns. Operation
URGENT FURY, on paper, would be simple: after insertion of SOF units, the Army's
Rangers would land at Salines Airport, clear the runway, secure the True Blue
medical school campus with its American students, and take control of the high
ground around the airport. Simultaneously, the 22d MAU would

capture and clear Pearls Airport and Grenville. Elements of
82d Airborne Division would replace the Rangers and continue operations to
capture St. George's. The SOF units would be replaced quickly by the Rangers who
would turn over responsibility to the 82d Airborne. The 22d MAU would continue
on their way to Lebanon, leaving the 82d Airborne as a peacekeeping force. The
Navy would supply air support and command facilities while the Air Force would
provide AC-130 gunships and military airlift. Although not assigned a combat
role, the inclusion of the Caribbean Peace-keeping Force (CPF), composed of
members of security forces from several Caribbean island nations, demonstrated
their resolve. They desired originally to intervene without United States
assistance, but soon decided that they lacked the necessary military force. At
1800, 24 October, President Reagan approved Operation URGENT FURY

Approximately 0530 the next morning, marines from the 22d MAU
conducted a heliborne assault on Pearls Airport, meeting light resistance. They
quickly secured the area and other Marine elements landed in Grenville with no
opposition. Farther south at 0535, two battalions of Army Rangers parachuted
from 500 feet into the Salines runway through heavy antiaircraft and small arms
fire. They rapidly secured and cleared the runway of the obstructions that
Cubans and members of the PRAF had placed on it. The first C-130 with additional
Ranger troops and equipment touched down just two hours after the 75th Infantry
hit the runway. Simultaneously, members of the 1st Battalion secured the True
Blue Campus with its medical students. Then, for the first time, the Rangers
learned that the main medical school campus was at Grand Anse Beach. The rest of
the 75th Infantry, after capturing the terminal area and control tower, by 1000
moved to the high ground that overlooked the runway and the Cuban compound at
Calliste. The infantry did not fire on this compound because of the possibility
that it contained noncombatants. The CPF arrived at Salines forty-five minutes
later and shortly thereafter linked up with the Rangers.

In view of the heavy fighting in the Salines area, around
noon, Admiral Metcalf decided on an amphibious landing at Grand Mal. Two hours
later the first 82d Airborne battalions landed at Salines Airport and moved out
to relieve the 75th Infantry. At 1500, 150 Cubans surrended at Calliste, but a
large number of diehards remained in the compound. Thirty minutes later, three
BTR-60 Armored Personnel Carriers from the PRAF's elite motorized company
attacked the 75th Infantry right flank. Ranger fire disabled two of the vehicles
and forced the remaining crew to retreat. Since the Marine assault at Grand Mal
was in the Army's area of responsibility and because of the slow movement of
Army forces, at 1600 Metcalf adjusted the demarcation line between the Marine
and Army areas of responsibility southward to a position just below St.
George's. Units of the 82d began relieving the 2d Battalion, 75th Infantry, at
1630 and the 1st Battalion at 1800. By 2200 the battalions were on the Salines
runway to await evacuation. Meanwhile, elements of the 22d MAU met no resistance
when they landed at Grand Mal beach at 1900. At the close of the first

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day's action Army troops held Salines Airport plus most of
the surrounding high ground. The marines occupied Pearls Airport and Grenville
as well as a beachhead at Grand Mal.

During the night of 25 October and the early morning of the
26th, the senior commanders on Grenada, as well as those in the Pentagon,
evaluated the operation. The opposition had been heavier than anticipated and
Army progress accordingly slowed. Nor had all of the medical students been
rescued. Although all SOF personnel and equipment had departed and the Rangers
were awaiting transport back to the States according to the original plan, the
evaluation determined that changes were needed. Therefore, the 75th Infantry was
placed under the operational control of the 82d Airborne, and Secretary of
Defense Caspar W. Weinberger authorized the latter to bring in four more
airborne infantry battalions to reinforce the two already in place.

At 0400 on 26 October, the marines advanced from Grand Mal to
St. George's and secured the Governor-General's residence at 0710 and Fort
Frederick at 1615. Meanwhile, the Cuban compound surrended at 0700 after another
heavy exchange of gunfire. Elements of the 82d Airborne reached the military
warehouses at Frequente by 1400 and established defensive positions. At 1100,
Metcalf ordered Maj. Gen. Edward L. Trobaugh, Commanding General of the 82d
Airborne Division, to rescue the students at Grand Anse Beach. Trobaugh decided
that the Rangers, with more experience in heliborne assaults, would effect the
rescue. Because the 82d aviation assets had not yet arrived, the 22d MAU
supplied CH--46 helicopters to deliver and pick up the Rangers and CH-53
helicopters to evacuate the students. A-7 Corsairs from the U.S.S.
Independence and an Air Force AC-130 provided air support. At 1615, this
task force assaulted the medical school area and under intermittently heavy fire
removed the students without casualties. The entire operation, from first
landing after the fire preparation to the last departure, took only twenty-six
minutes. That afternoon the first C-141s took off with student evacuees for the
United States.

At 0700 the next morning, the 82d Combat Aviation Battalion
(CAB) arrived at Salines to provide the infantry with their own air assault
helicopters (UH-60s). An hour later, the marines seized Richmond Hill Prison and
began clearing St. George's. The 82d Airborne Division received additional
troops that morning and moved farther toward St. George's, drawing only
scattered fire. At noon, Atlantic Command informed Metcalf that the JCS wanted
Calivigny captured by nightfall. Twenty minutes later, Trobaugh received orders
to assault the training camp located there and directed the 2d Battalion, 75th
Infantry, to conduct the operation. After one-half hour of preparatory fire, at
1645 the Rangers assaulted Calivigny in Army UH-60s and quickly secured the
area.

At 0800 on 28 October elements of the 82d Airborne and 22d
MAU linked up at Ross Point, followed two hours later by the CPF establishing
liaison with the marines in St. George's. At the same time, soldiers of the
505th Infantry (Airborne) encountered American citizens on the Lance aux Epines
peninsula, and the 82d Combat Aviation Battalion evacuated

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them. The Rangers departed Calivigny at 1400 and returned to
Salines, where they assembled with other members of the 75th and returned to the
United States. Meanwhile, the CPF arrived at Queen's Park Race-course north of St.
George's to guard prisoners captured by the marines.

On 29 October, Trobaugh and Maj. Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf,
Deputy Commander of CJTF 120, discussed a captured Grenadian military map that
identified arms caches in the southern part of the island. They agreed to
establish a task force at 1500 to search for and recover the arms and
ammunition. Task Force Newman, composed of the scout platoon and an infantry
platoon from the 2d Battalion, 508th Infantry, and the scout platoon from the 3d
Battalion, 325th Infantry, set out in gun jeeps and civilian dump trucks. During
a nearly twenty-seven hour operation, Task Force Newman discovered and brought
back to Salines substantial quantities of Soviet-manufactured weapons and
ammunition.

On 30 October, the marines began securing other major
population centers on the island, clearing Sauteurs by 0915, Gouyave at 1745,
and Victoria at nightfall. In the morning, the 1st Battalion, 505th Infantry,
cleared the Calivigny peninsula, and the 3d Brigade, 82d Airborne, secured the
adjacent Fort Jeudy peninsula at 1400.

The next morning the 2d Battalion, 325th Infantry, landed at
Grand Etang and swept the deserted training area. That afternoon, Trobaugh
assumed responsibility for St. George's, and, eight hours later, the 22d MAU's
ground units returned to their ships. At 0530 on 1 November, these Marine
elements conducted an amphibious and heliborne assault on Carriacou Island north
of Grenada. They were relieved by members of the 2d Battalion, 505th Infantry,
the following morning. At 1500 on the same day Metcalf declared hostilities at
an end and the 22d MAU resumed its interrupted voyage to the Middle East. On 3
November at 1000, McDonald dissolved CJTF 120 and named Trobaugh Commander, U.S.
Forces, Grenada. Later that evening the Atlantic Command informed him that the
Cubans would be repatriated, beginning on the following day.

Overall, Operation URGENT FURY was a success. American forces,
primarily from the Army, defeated opposing forces, evacuated the medical
students and other U.S. nationals, and opened the door to a reinstitution of
democratic government. Members of Combined Joint Task Force 120 killed 45
soldiers of the PRAF and wounded another 337, capturing 146. The remaining PRAF
soldiers discarded their weapons and uniforms and merged with the general
population. American forces also killed 24 Cubans, wounded 29, and captured 600.
American losses during the operation were 19 killed and 113 wounded in action.
Furthermore, the task force evacuated 662 U.S. and 82 foreign nationals from the
island. The Armed Services accomplished their mission with minimal damage to
Grenada and few civilian casualties. Immediately after the intervention, 500
Army engineers arrived in Grenada to repair buildings, roads, schools, and
hospitals as a part of the island's rebuilding process. A three-member team from
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Mobile District traveled to Grenada during
November and December to determine the amount of compensation due Grenadians
whose property was used or damaged by U.S. forces during the subsequent
occupation. Various Army Reserve units also performed humanitarian missions for
Grenadians, such as collecting and distributing books to the country's schools.

Governor-General Sir Paul Scoon assumed power after the
cessation of hostilities and ruled, with an appointed council, until elections
were

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held in December 1984. The people of Grenada elected Herbert
Blaize Prime Minister and gave his party fourteen of the fifteen seats in the
country's House of Representatives. Blaize requested that American troops remain
on the island, but the last peacekeeping unit left on 11 June 1985. A thirty-man
Special Forces detachment did remain behind to provide military training to
Grenadian forces.

Operation URGENT FURY demonstrated the Army, Air Force, Navy,
and Marine Corps' ability to execute a joint contingency operation on short
notice with minimal planning time. Although problems in coordination,
communication, and interservice doctrine did arise, most were wholly or
partially solved on the ground, once again demonstrating the American soldier's
ingenuity and flexibility. Furthermore, the Army employed in combat several new
additions to their inventory, such as the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, REMBASS,
and the kevlar helmet. All performed superbly under combat conditions. Operation
URGENT FURY proved that the Army's new training philosophy, "train as you will
fight," worked.